Exactly How I Lived In Europe + Got Paid To Travel (And You Can Too!)

Immediately after graduating college, I decided to skip the traditional 9-5 lifestyle in favor of traveling and working abroad, and to this day I consider choosing to live abroad after graduation to be one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

One question I get asked the most is how I afford to travel. While I answer that question more extensively in this post, today I am here to talk to you specifically about how I managed to get paid to do what I love…travel.

From August 2015-August 2016 I worked for a student travel company in Florence, Italy. During this time, I visited over 10 countries and over 20 cities…and got paid to do it!

To help you decide if this job is something you might be interested in, today I’m sharing the good, the bad, and the ugly of my experience as a student travel guide in Florence, Italy.

Ona company retreat with coworkers in La Spezia, Italy

About Student Travel Companies

There are several student travel companies that operate throughout Europe. Most of these companies are based out of popular study abroad cities, as their clientele is primarily American study abroad students. Florence, Rome, Barcelona, and Prague are just a few of the cities where these travel companies set up shop, and where applicants can apply to be placed.

How I Got The Job

I first became aware of these student travel companies when I studied abroad in Florence, Italy. All summer long, I kept getting handed fliers for various tours, weekend trips, and day trips from different travel guides throughout the city. When I actually ended up booking a trip to the Amalfi Coast through one such company, I became friends with the tour guide who would later recommend me for the job and get me hired! He even ended up becoming my boss!

Grabbing a tour guide photo with my coworkers at the John Lennon Wall in Prague.

Getting Hired

You don’t necessarily have to know someone to nab a job at a student travel company, although it does help. Student travel companies are primarily looking for fresh college graduates who are social and outgoing. After all, they are searching for people who can connect to study abroad students. So if you just graduated and have zero work experience, congratulations, you are still qualified for the job!

That being said, depending on the season jobs can be quite competitive. If you studied abroad and met some student travel guides yourself, ask for recommendations. If not, just put together a great application.

What companies are looking for: 

• Are you outgoing? 99% of the job is about connecting to study abroad students. If you aren’t outgoing or an extrovert, this might not be the job for you.
• Are you social media savvy? For this job you don’t have to go through your college Instagrams and remove all photos of you having fun (just don’t look like you’re having too much fun 😉 ). These companies want to see that you love social media, as you will be using it to promote their brand.
• Do you have sales experience? You don’t need formal sales experience to get the job, but you will want to highlight times when you’ve sold things. Were you in a sorority or fraternity? Excellent-you can talk about how similar recruitment is to sales. Travel companies actually really love sorority and fraternity applicants, as you have an interest in social events and have a knack for recruiting.
• Will you fit with their team? Sometimes, you might not get the job because the hiring manager feels you won’t fit in with the team. If this happens, I promise you it is for your own good. You will be working, living, and traveling with these people, so you’ll have a much better experience when you like your coworkers.
• Did you study abroad? Not everyone who works for a student travel company studied abroad, but a majority of them did. This is partly because many people who apply learn about the job while students themselves. A study abroad experience shows that you love to travel and can relate to the company’s target client.
• Do you love traveling? If you are applying to be a student travel guide, you probably enjoy traveling. Be sure to stress this on your application.
• Do you have a clear understanding of the job? Some people aren’t meant to be student travel guides. The long hours, social demands of the job, and sales pressures can get to anyone. Show that you won’t want to quit after the first month by illustrating that you understand the demands of the job.

Hanging out with students on a weekend trip to Interlaken, Switzerland!

About The Job (aka What I Actually Did In Italy)

Working for a student travel company can be broken down into three parts. You’ll be responsible for selling trips, acting as a travel guide or assistant travel guide, and running/participating in various nightlife and social events in the city you are based in. Here is a bit of info about each part of the job so you can see what each aspect entails.

Sales:

• Facebook Marketing: Essentially, you send A LOT of friend requests and messages to study abroad students, begging them to use your promo code. This was a huge portion of how I made sales at my company, and for me was the most important aspect of the job, as it was how I made the most money.
• Flyering: At the beginning of each semester, you will be standing in the hot August sun, or freezing in the cold January temperatures shoving flyers with your promo code into students’ hands. This was not a highlight of the job for me, but you will get to know your coworkers well, take well over the recommended 10,000 steps per day, and become an expert on all the streets in town.
• Meeting students: Your job is to get students to purchase trips from you, so you’ll be meeting up with students A LOT. You’ll make tons of friends this way, but you may get socially burnt out by the end of a semester!

Going out is often mandatory, but my coworkers always made it fun!

Nightlife + Events: 

This will either be the best part of your job or the worst part of your job depending on how much you like going out. Many study abroad students like to hang out at bars and clubs, so that is exactly where you will be going to find them!

In my time working for a student travel company I’ve run flip cup tournaments, beer pong tourneys, promoted for clubs and restaurants. And yes, many of these were mandatory events.

While I love going out on occasion, I definitely was worn out after a full day of flyering 10-5, only to have to go home, eat, and get ready to run a beer pong tournament and hit the club afterward.

That being said, nightlife is a great way to meet students, and often times when you work these events you get free or discounted drinks. You’ll also befriend all of the bartenders in town.

Half of being a tour guide is taking tons of photos! This time my coworker Matt was behind the camera for a change!

Tour Guiding:

If this is a travel job, why did I put tour guiding last? Because this is only your job on the weekends! While some companies pay you to guide or assistant guide on a trip, others do not, and most companies do not guarantee you travel every weekend. Travel opportunities are often based on sales, so if you want to travel, you will want to sell well!

I spent most weekends sleeping on a bus Thursday night, waking up in a different country on Friday, exploring a new city with 50 or so college students, and hopping on a bus Sunday night to head back to Florence. Was it fun? Yes. Was it also exhausting? Absolutely.

Another weekend spent on the Amalfi Coast! I went over 6 times when living in Italy.

Getting Paid

This one is a tough one…how much do student travel guides get paid? While I can’t speak for every company, here is a general estimate of how things are done across the board:

• Rent: Most companies provide housing, so you won’t have to worry about paying rent, it is part of your pay!
• Commission: You will make a percentage off of each sale that is made using your promo code. This means that if you are a great seller, you will make money. If not, you may struggle.
• Stipend: Some companies offer a weekly stipend for food, others do not.
• Tour Guiding: Each company handles this differently. Some companies pay you nothing but handle your expenses, others pay a flat rate to the lead and assistant tour guides per trip or day trip.
• Nightlife: You may or may not be able to work out some form of payment with local establishments in exchange for promoting their events.

For me, I had rent covered, earned commission, got paid to lead trips, had all of my expenses paid on trips, and occasionally was paid to run nightlife events. I even managed to save around $7,000 to travel through Greece, Spain, Portugal, and Morocco after I finished my 1-year contract! That being said, not everyone makes this much. Student travel can be very competitive, and I was my company’s top seller.

Enjoying the beauty of Croatia’s Krka waterfalls.

Where I Traveled

Here is a detailed list of all of the places in Europe I visited for free, with all expenses paid by my company:

• Interlaken, Switzerland
• Budapest, Hungary
• Vienna + Salzburg, Austria
• Prague
• Berlin + Munich Oktoberfest+ Munich Springfest
• Amsterdam
• Paris
• Barcelona
• Croatia
• Slovenia

Travel within Italy

• Cinque Terre (10 trips)
• Venice (4 trips)
• Rome (2 work trips)
• Verona (2 trips)
• The Amalfi Coast-Sorrento, Capri, Positano, Pompeii (6 work trips)
• Naples (1 trip)
• Rapolano Hot Springs (2 trips)
• Chianti (2 work trips)
• Pisa, Siena, San Gimignano (1 work trip)
• Elba Island (1 trip)
• Perugia (1 trip)

While I didn’t make a ton of money while working at this job, all of these travel opportunities add up to well over $5,000, not including expenses once on the trip!

Always behind the camera! Snapping photos of students by the Notre Dame

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly: What I Loved (And Didn’t) About My Job

Working for a student travel company was one of the most amazing experiences I’ve ever had. That being said, there are some serious downsides to the job. I’ll attempt to list both the pros and the cons of the job, so you can get a fuller picture of what working for a student travel company is really like.

What I loved: 

• Traveling: This one is pretty obvious. I think everyone who applies for this kind of job has a love for travel and is willing to put up with a lot to do it for free. I got to go to some pretty amazing places and had some adventures I never dreamed of before getting hired.
• The people: I met so many amazing people while living and working in Florence. I’ve met coworkers that have become friends for life, study abroad students I still keep in touch with, and fellow expats and Florence locals I can’t wait to go back to visit.
• Living in Florence: It is no secret that I absolutely loved living in Florence. I completely fell in love with the city. As someone who only studied abroad for 1 month, spending a year living in Europe was a life goal of mine that I am so glad I pursued.
• Learning: Living and working abroad was a huge learning experience for me. I gained a lot of life skills, started this blog, and now have a stronger desire to make travel a permanent part of my lifestyle.

Home sweet home in lovely Firenze!

What I didn’t:

• Not getting paid on time: Okay, okay, I LOVED getting paid, but I hated not getting paid on time! Which happened quite a few times. In Italy, these things tend to be a bit more relaxed. While this may not be everyone’s experience it certainly was mine.
• Living with coworkers: This was sometimes good, sometimes bad. At times living/traveling/working together in close quarters can be stifling. I think I would have loved to live outside of company housing to get a break from work. That being said, I had a ton of fun in out company apartment and really bonded with my coworkers.
• The long hours: At the beginning of each semester, you have one goal…sell sell sell! Waking up early, walking around the city passing out flyers all day, networking during lunch and dinner, selling trips on Facebook, only to turn around and hit the bars at 10:30 PM is EXHAUSTING. Then you’ll head out for the weekend, get poor sleep on a bus, and come back Monday ready to do it all over again.
• Repetitive Itineraries: No matter how amazing an itinerary is, doing it over and over again can get old. Sometimes while on trips I wanted to explore more or do my own thing, which you can’t do much of when you are a tour guide. One of the reasons I left the job after 1 year was that I had been on most of the trips the company had to offer.
• Nightlife: I do enjoy going out on occasion (you are talking to the girl who wrote a post all about the best rooftop bars in Florence), working nightlife events got old for me really fast. I don’t know about you, but this girl likes her sleep!

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Alright, there you have it! A very long and extremely thorough account of my experience working abroad for a student travel company! What do you think? Is this job for you? Let me know in the comments, I’d love to hear from you!

You might also like:

• How I Afford To Travel: 1 Year, 15 Countries, And Just $2,000
• How I Spent 1 Month In Greece (Almost) For Free!
• Two Incredible Weeks In Italy: The Complete Itinerary

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